The Beeb's Paul Reynolds analyzes the implications.
This is not just about how many are leaving or staying, or about a continuing role for the British military in Iraq, which it will have. It is about perception and psychology, with the emphasis in the public and political mind on getting out.
It could well be the point of no return, the moment when the British government started to put into practice what it has long been planning and from which the flow of decisions will be all in one direction. ...
... The withdrawal is somewhat less than had been expected.
Perhaps this is a result of fears that the Iraqis are not that well trained and that Britain cannot conduct a rapid withdrawal at the very moment when the new US reinforcement operation has only just begun. It would not look good to appear to be deserting an ally.
Official explanations in both London and Washington that the British decision is the culmination of the intended policy and that it is from a very different part of Iraq will not change the fact that President Bush's domestic opponents will use this to press their own case for a pullout. A contrast is being drawn between the US sending troops in and the UK pulling them out.
While the British aim now is to hand over security control as much and as quickly as possible to the Iraqis, there will be a continuing combat duty on five levels:
- Training Iraqi troops
- Securing the border with Iran
- Securing supply routes
- Maintaining, as Mr Blair put it, "above all, the ability to conduct operations against extremist groups and be there in support of the Iraq Army when called upon"
These are by no means minimalist tasks. The border watch will involve long range patrols, the supply route monitoring is vital to protect the huge convoys from Kuwait that supply the US army and the "extremist groups" - notably the Shia Mehdi army that opposes a British presence - could be hard to deal with.
The revised British role will see most units stationed at the airport so their presence in the streets and their exposure to attack will be lessened.